And Vogels reckons the series could develop into something special in years to come, attracting competitors, sponsors and fans.

"Twilight criteriums can be massive and I know because I raced in the United States for eight years and saw those events grow and grow," the former US PRO Criterium Championships winner said.

"People love doing twilight crits and even night time crits.

"It's the first time I've seen them up here for a long time so I'm excited about it growing and I think it's got huge potential for the future."

He believes Sunshine Coast-based Kersten, who was also a USPRO Criterium Championships winner, will be hard to beat this series. "He is a very classy bike rider but I'm not going to say he's got it wrapped up yet because it is a very hard circuit," Vogels said.

"He's the best sprinter but there is a climb and if the boys make it tough they can drop him so I'll be interested to see what their tactics are going to be in the next two races."

Vogels, who has moved from Buderim to Gympie, is likely to race in the third round of the series after returning to riding recently.

The 39-year-old, who won multiple races on the national and international scene in the 90s and 2000s, is covering 450km a week again and last week trained with 2011 Tour de France champion Cadel Evans in Brisbane.

"He's had some time off but has been back for six weeks and already he looks like he is in really good nick," Vogels said of his Evans, who he has known for years.

"He's a strange fellow but I mean that in a nice way, he is very focused."